After the achievement of your race comes a phase of recovery that’s often underestimated. How do you get back up and running swiftly?

You’ve run your race, collected your medal and celebrated your awesome achievement. Then comes the day after, when your body starts to recuperate and the post-race blues lies in wait. Here’s our guide to help you get back up and running again swiftly.

Recovery phase
In the lead-up to your full or half marathon, naturally all you think about is your race. But it pays to plan ahead a bit. Once your race is run and you’ve made it, you don’t want the post-race dip to be too deep or too long. The initial tiredness and soreness all too easily turns into lethargy and a chronic cold.

Following a basic plan will help you recover and be active again faster. Not surprisingly rest is the main ingredient of recovery. At the same time it’s good to avoid stopping with running altogether. After months of regular training, you can makes use of the rhythm you’ve built up to ease you back into running. This is why My ASICS training plans continue after race day with a recovery phase designed for a swift recuperation.

The golden rule of post-race recovery is simple: do what you feel ready for.

Week 1-2: rest, relax
Immediately after your race, your body will feel very sore and very tired. So for about the first week, just rest. Obviously this rest period may be a little shorter for half-marathon runners, and longer for marathoners.

In this period, it’s not unusual to catch a cold or the flu. This is just due to your weakened immune system. So make sure you take care of yourself, eat well and have lots of sleep. You can ease muscle soreness by taking a bath or treating yourself to a massage. (After all, you’ve just run a marathon!)

If you feel well, after a few days you may want to try some walking or swimming, to avoid your muscles from getting too stiff. You can also do some gentle stretching exercises to bring back flexibility.

Week 2-3: assess your fitness
When you feel like you can, try doing some jogging, starting with a short distance at first (5 km or less). You should definitely not exert yourself too much, you just want to remind your body of running. If this goes well and you don’t have any setback, you can slowly start getting back into a running routine. Again, this moment will differ depending on whether you’ve run a full or half marathon.

A good way to assess your shape at this point is to do a fast run at a pace you could manage well before your race. If you can still manage this, your body is ready. But if you’re still very tired or suspect an injury, revert back to rest. If you have pain that doesn’t go away after three or four days, you will want to see a doctor.

To repeat the golden rule: do only what you’re ready for. Your first priority is to come out of your recovery without injuries and in good shape, and this may well take a week or so longer. After all those weeks of training for your race, you can surely allow your body a couple of weeks to repair.

Week 3-4: a new plan?
By the third of fourth week of recovery, many runners will start thinking about a new challenge. Your body has recuperated, you’ve assessed your fitness, so what’s next? Here the My ASICS training plans end, but naturally you can make them transition quite seamlessly into a new plan.

Do you need some inspiration for your next goal? Use the ASICS Race Finder.

How did your recovery go?
Share your experiences by leaving a comment below!